Method, apparatus, and system for paging terminal

Abstract

The present invention provides a method, an apparatus, and a system for paging a terminal. The method includes: obtaining, by a core network element, mobility information or service information of a terminal; determining, by the core network element, a paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, or determining, by the core network element, a paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and correspondence between the service information and the paging range, where the paging range includes: a single cell, a single base station, multiple cells, multiple base stations, or a location area; and paging, by the core network element, the terminal according to the paging range of the terminal. The present invention can reduce paging processing of an irrelevant cell or base station, and save network resources.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for paging a terminal, the method comprising:
 obtaining, by a core network element, mobility information or service information of a terminal;   determining, by the core network element, a paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, or determining, by the core network element, a paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and correspondence between the service information and the paging range, wherein the paging range comprises: a single cell, a single base station, multiple cells, multiple base stations, or a location area; and   paging, by the core network element, the terminal according to the paging range of the terminal.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein obtaining, by the core network element, the mobility information of the terminal comprises:
 receiving, by the core network element, location information of the terminal sent by a radio access network element connected to the terminal, or when the terminal releases a radio connection to a radio access network element, receiving, by the core network element, location information of the terminal sent by the radio access network element, wherein the location information comprises information of a cell in which the terminal is located or information of a base station in which the terminal is located; and   storing, by the core network element, the received location information.   
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range comprises: correspondence between the mobility information and a mobility characteristic and correspondence between the mobility characteristic and the paging range, and the mobility characteristic comprises: a low mobility state, a moderate mobility state, or a high mobility state; and   determining, by the core network element, the paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and the correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range comprises:
 obtaining, by the core network element, the mobility characteristic of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and the correspondence between the mobility information and the mobility characteristic, and 
 obtaining, by the core network element, the paging range of the terminal according to the mobility characteristic of the terminal and the correspondence between the mobility characteristic and the paging range. 
   
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 3 , wherein the correspondence between the mobility characteristic and the paging range comprises:
 if the mobility characteristic is a low mobility state, the paging range is a single cell or a single base station; or   if the mobility characteristic is a moderate mobility state, the paging range is multiple cells or multiple base stations; or   if the mobility characteristic is a high mobility state, the paging range is a location area.   
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 3 , before determining, by the core network element, the paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and the correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, the method further comprises:
 determining, by the core network element, according to the service information of the terminal, that a service characteristic corresponding to the service information is a time delay-insensitive service.   
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the correspondence between the service information and the paging range comprises: correspondence between the service information and a service characteristic and correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range, and the service characteristic comprises: a time delay-sensitive service or a time delay-insensitive service; and   determining, by the core network element, the paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and the correspondence between the service information and the paging range comprises:
 obtaining, by the core network element, the service characteristic of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and the correspondence between the service information and the service characteristic, and 
 obtaining, by the core network element, the paging range of the terminal according to the service characteristic of the terminal and the correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range. 
   
     
     
         7 . The method according to  claim 6 , wherein the correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range comprises: if the service characteristic is a time delay-sensitive service, the paging range is a location area. 
     
     
         8 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein paging, by the core network element, the terminal according to the paging range of the terminal comprises:
 if the paging range of the terminal is a single cell, sending, by the core network element, a paging message to a base station last connected by the terminal, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal, or sending, by the core network element, a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal; or   if the paging range of the terminal is a single base station, sending, by the core network element, a paging message to a base station last connected by the terminal, so as to page the terminal, or sending, by the core network element, a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of the base station last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the base station last connected by the terminal; or   if the paging range of the terminal is multiple cells, sending, by the core network element, a paging message to a base station to which a cell last connected by the terminal belongs and a base station to which a neighboring cell of the cell last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell that needs to page the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal and the neighboring cell of the cell last connected by the terminal, or sending, by the core network element, a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal and a neighboring cell of the cell last connected by the terminal; or   if the paging range of the terminal is multiple base stations, sending, by the core network element, a paging message to a base station last connected by the terminal and a neighboring base station of the base station last connected by the terminal, so as to page the terminal, or sending, by the core network element, a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of the base station last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the base station last connected by the terminal and a neighboring base station of the base station last connected by the terminal; or   if the paging range of the terminal is a location area, sending, by the core network element, a paging message to all base stations in a location area to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, so as to page the terminal, or sending, by the core network element, a paging message to all access network controllers in a location area to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of the location area to which the base station last connected by the terminal belongs and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the location area to which the base station last connected by the terminal belongs.   
     
     
         9 . A core network element, comprising:
 an obtaining module, configured to obtain mobility information or service information of a terminal;   a paging range determination module, configured to determine a paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, or determine a paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and correspondence between the service information and the paging range, wherein the paging range comprises: a single cell, a single base station, multiple cells, multiple base stations, or a location area; and   a paging module, configured to page the terminal according to the paging range of the terminal.   
     
     
         10 . The network element according to  claim 9 , wherein the obtaining module comprises:
 a first obtaining unit, configured to receive location information of the terminal sent by a radio access network element connected to the terminal, or when the terminal releases a radio connection to a radio access network element, receive location information of the terminal sent by the radio access network element, wherein the location information comprises information of a cell in which the terminal is located or information of a base station in which the terminal is located; and store the received location information; and   a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain the service information of the terminal.   
     
     
         11 . The network element according to  claim 9 , wherein the paging range determination module comprises:
 a first determination unit, configured to determine the paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and the correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, wherein the paging range comprises: a single cell, a single base station, multiple cells, multiple base stations, or a location area;   a second determination unit, configured to determine the paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and the correspondence between the service information and the paging range; and   a third determination unit, configured to determine, according to the service information of the terminal, whether a service characteristic corresponding to the service information is a time delay-insensitive service, if yes, determine the paging range of the terminal through the second determination unit, otherwise, determine the paging range of the terminal through the second determination unit.   
     
     
         12 . The network element according to  claim 11 , wherein the first determination unit is configured to:
 obtain a mobility characteristic of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility information and the mobility characteristic; and   obtain the paging range of the terminal according to the mobility characteristic of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility characteristic and the paging range, wherein the correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range comprises the correspondence between the mobility information and the mobility characteristic and the correspondence between the mobility characteristic and the paging range, and the mobility characteristic comprises: a low mobility state, a moderate mobility state, or a high mobility state.   
     
     
         13 . The network element according to  claim 12 , wherein the correspondence between the mobility characteristic and the paging range comprises:
 if the mobility characteristic is a low mobility state, the paging range is a single cell or a single base station; or   if the mobility characteristic is a moderate mobility state, the paging range is multiple cells or multiple base stations; or   if the mobility characteristic is a high mobility state, the paging range is a location area.   
     
     
         14 . The network element according to  claim 9 , wherein the second determination unit is configured to:
 obtain a service characteristic of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and correspondence between the service information and the service characteristic; and   obtain the paging range of the terminal according to the service characteristic of the terminal and correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range.   
     
     
         15 . The network element according to  claim 14 , wherein the correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range comprises: if the service characteristic is a time delay-sensitive service, the paging range is a location area. 
     
     
         16 . The network element according to  claim 9 , wherein the paging module comprises:
 a first paging unit, configured to: if the paging range of the terminal is a single cell, send a paging message to a base station last connected by the terminal, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal, or send a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal; or   a second paging unit, configured to: if the paging range of the terminal is a single base station, send a paging message to a base station last connected by the terminal, so as to page the terminal, or send a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of the base station last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the base station last connected by the terminal; or   a third paging unit, configured to: if the paging range of the terminal is multiple cells, send a paging message to a base station to which a cell last connected by the terminal belongs and a base station to which a neighboring cell of the cell last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell that needs to page the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal and the neighboring cell of the cell last connected by the terminal, or send a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of a cell last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the cell last connected by the terminal and a neighboring cell of the cell last connected by the terminal; or   a fourth paging unit, configured to: if the paging range of the terminal is multiple base stations, send a paging message to a base station last connected by the terminal and a neighboring base station of the base station last connected by the terminal, so as to page the terminal, or send a paging message to an access network controller to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of the base station last connected by the terminal and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the base station last connected by the terminal and a neighboring base station of the base station last connected by the terminal; or   a fifth paging unit, configured to: if the paging range of the terminal is a location area, send a paging message to all base stations in a location area to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, so as to page the terminal, or send a paging message to all access network controllers in a location area to which a base station last connected by the terminal belongs, wherein the paging message comprises information of the location area to which the base station last connected by the terminal belongs and the paging range of the terminal, which is used to give an instruction for paging the terminal in the location area to which the base station last connected by the terminal belongs.   
     
     
         17 . A core network element, comprising:
 at least one processor and a memory coupled to the at least one processor; and   wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
 obtain mobility information or service information of a terminal, and 
 determine a paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, or determine a paging range of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and correspondence between the service information and the paging range, wherein the paging range comprises: a single cell, a single base station, multiple cells, multiple base stations, or a location area, and 
 page the terminal according to the paging range of the terminal. 
   
     
     
         18 . The core network element according to  claim 17 , wherein before determining the paging range of the terminal according to the mobility information of the terminal and the correspondence between the mobility information and the paging range, the at least one processor is configured to:
 determine according to the service information of the terminal, that a service characteristic corresponding to the service information is a time delay-insensitive service.   
     
     
         19 . The core network element according to  claim 17 , wherein:
 the correspondence between the service information and the paging range comprises: correspondence between the service information and a service characteristic and correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range, and the service characteristic comprises: a time delay-sensitive service or a time delay-insensitive service; and   the at least one processor is configured to:
 obtain the service characteristic of the terminal according to the service information of the terminal and the correspondence between the service information and the service characteristic, and 
 obtain the paging range of the terminal according to the service characteristic of the terminal and the correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range. 
   
     
     
         20 . The core network element according to  claim 17 , wherein the correspondence between the service characteristic and the paging range comprises: if the service characteristic is a time delay-sensitive service, the paging range is a location area.